I had been trying to have
lucid dream a while
ago, to pretty much no avail. It hadn't worked and I pretty much forgot about it and all the little things you can do to try and have a lucid dream (like telling yourself you will have one before you fall asleep). Anyway, if you vary your normal sleeping pattern, I think that helps to break you out of a rhythm and get you to realize your dreaming.
Last night I had played poker with a bunch of friends for about 8 hours. We played from 10pm to roughly 6am and I ended up a significant amount, which I was obviously pleased about. Anyway I got to bed at about 7am. I distinctly remember a dream I was having where for some unknown reason I was flying. All of the sudden, I know that its not real. I didn't really realize it was a dream, but I do remember thinking that it wasn't real. So, after taking my philosophy class and wondering about The Matrix type scenarios I decide to test myself. I try and see my surroundings look real, or if they look like a dream. I looked at my surroundings and I looked at the back of my hands and in my dream I thought it all looked completely real. So I couldn't tell the difference from dream and reality while I was dreaming (or at least I thought I couldn't).
So then I wake up, and I am thinking about the dream and it seemed fake. I remember thinking that it looked real, but by my memory of the dream it looked a little fake. I wouldn't have told you that while I was dreaming though. So... did It actually look real, or did I have limited capacity for realizing it while I was dreaming....
Anyway, regarding poker night, I had a great hand one game. A freaking four of a kind, in a game with no wild cards. In this game you start with seven cards, pass two to the right and one to the left and bet five times as you reveal each of the cards in your five card hand. So you end up seeing 10 cards. This makes a full house the normal good winnig hand, and I had a four of a kind. So I bet big, each bet, and build the pot up and up. The only other person in contention is showing 2,3,4,5 of diamonds, and I am showing three of my four '9's. Then it hit me, there is ONE possibly hand that beats the four of a kind... and it is straight flush. That lucky bastard got a straight flush.